Gallup: America's views on abortion largely unchanged

Polls conducted since 1975 show that Americans' positions on the legality of abortion have held
relatively steady, according to a recent Gallup report.

The most recent Gallup
survey shows that 26 percent of U.S. adults say abortion should be legal under
any circumstances, while 20 percent say it should be illegal under any circumstances. Another
52 percent say it should be legal only under certain circumstances.

In polls conducted since 1975, the percentage favoring full legal abortion has ranged from 21 to
34 percent, and the percentage saying it should always be illegal has ranged from 13 to 22 percent.
Those favoring partial legality have ranged from 48 to 61 percent.

The recent survey was part of Gallup's annual Values and Beliefs poll. It was conducted May 2-7,
when a Philadelphia jury was considering criminal charges against Dr. Kermit Gosnell, an abortion
doctor.

Gosnell was convicted yesterday of several counts, including first-degree murder in the deaths
of three infants who prosecutors say were delivered alive then killed with scissors.

The telephone poll of about 1,500 adults has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage
points.